Further to the success of USI Building Reality 2016 workshop, MATERIA supported and hosted the University of Lugano’s USI January 2018 ‘Building Realities’ Students Workshop in Mozambique at its project Benga Riverside, in connection with the Atelier Francis Kéré.

The 2018 workshop involved over 20 students that came to work with the local community to envisage an affordable housing prototype. Once again the project involved the local community and leveraged the materials available locally. In only 3 weeks the students were able to build a 54 sqm self-contained modular house with the potential to expand into a two bedroom house through a modular approach.

The workshop served to put to test key Incremental Construction principles and envisage potential inexpensive solutions to contribute to the discourse around the African affordable housing gap.